Category Archives: Resources

In this section we will provide the most up to date resources to assist you on your quest for brain vitality. Including everything from the best brain supplements to meditation guides and new smartphone apps that are sure enhance cerebral health.

Category: Resources

In this section we will provide the most up to date resources to assist you on your quest for brain vitality. Including everything from the best brain supplements to meditation guides and new smartphone apps that are sure enhance cerebral health.

You may remember that earlier in the summer of 2017 I launched the Shape Up for Summer Weight Loss Challenge with CBN. Well, now that we’re all wrapped up and in the final tally is in, I’m excited to share that, together, we’ve managed to shed 11,800 pounds. That’s as much as a semi-trailer, and in just 8 weeks. All this achieved by following the guidelines of The Grain Brain Whole Life Plan.

This spring, I’m partnering with CBN to launch a transformational health and wellness challenge unlike any other. YOU are invited to take part in a FREE 8-week Shape Up for Summer Challenge to achieve your personal weight loss goal. The challenge starts on April 5th and ends May 31st. The challenge will focus on ‘food I.Q.’ by using The Grain Brain Whole Life Planphilosophy – a scientific approach that helps with mental clarity, memory, improves overall well-being, embraces healthy eating and weight loss. To join the challenge, click here now.Continue reading

Dr. Blaser begins by confirming the critical role that antibiotics play in modern medicine. He then reiterates the words of Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming, inventor of penicillin, who in 1945 warned of the potential negative consequences of antibiotics, including the development of antibiotic-resistant organisms.

He then goes on to review how, shortly after their introduction for widespread use in humans, farmers discovered that treating livestock with antibiotics dramatically enhanced their growth. This discovery fostered the widespread use of antibiotics in the livestock industry, which has only persisted and grown over the last six decades. But beyond the historical significance of this discovery, the report calls attention to the fact that antibiotics are associated with important metabolic changes. This finding was a central idea elucidated in Dr. Blaser’s book, wherein he linked current antibiotic mismanagement to the global, ever-increasing rates of obesity. Continue reading

I’m excited to be able to answers your questions whenever I can through this blog, Facebook, Twitter, and other outlets. That said, I’m always looking for new ways to be able to shed light on some of the most pressing concerns of the Empowering Neurologist community. That’s why I’m excited to present our latest Q&A opportunity.

It’s clear that our video content has reached a wide audience with very positive feedback, so moving forward, I’ll be answering your questions with video responses. So on this post, I’d like to invite you to post your questions, comments, or ideas you’d like me to explore moving forward. Questions should be general, and not relate to a specific person’s medical condition. If someone has already asked the same or similar question, or you see a question you like, please upvote it, rather than posting the question again. Each week I’ll recored a response to the most popular question(s) based on your votes!

There’s always a tendency in each of us to question ourselves when we consider our supposed foibles, but the following folk tale from Sacinandana Swami shines a different light on how we may choose to embrace our sense of worth.

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on one end of the pole he carried across the back of his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream, the cracked pot arrived only half full. This went on every day for two years, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots of water to his master’s house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishment and saw itself as perfectly suited for the purpose for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived as bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself and I want to apologize to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“For the past two years, I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws you have to work without getting the full value of your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and out of compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.” Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the wildflowers on the side of the path. The pot felt cheered.

But at the end of the trail, the pot still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and again it apologized for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I knew about your flaw and took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them for me. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. If you were not just the way you are, he would not have such beauty to grace his house.”

These days we all seem to be pushing as hard as we can to meet our ever-increasing demands. I found the following verse by Eknath Easwaran to be instructional:

Today’s mania for speed strikes right at the root of our capacity for an even mind. How often we find ourselves locked into behavior and situations that force us to hurry, hurry, hurry! By now, most of us are aware that compulsive speed – “hurry sickness” – can be a direct threat to our physical health. But hurry has another alarming repercussion: it cripples patience.

When we lack patience, even a few moments’ delay, a trivial disappointment, an unexpected obstacle, makes us explode in anger. We are not hostile people; we are just in such a hurry that keeping the mind calm is impossible. Without peace of mind, how can we enjoy anything, from a movie to good health?

When we go slower, we are more patient, and when we are more patient, we are capable of enjoying life more. All these benefits can come from just learning to slow down.

Today’s post is from a close friend of Grain Brain, Max Lugavere. – Dr. Perlmutter

My name is Max Lugavere and I’m a filmmaker, currently in production on a feature-length, millennial-focused documentary exploring the impact of diet and lifestyle on brain health. I also write when so inspired, and was happy to have interviewed Dr. Perlmutter for Psychology Today last year just after Grain Brain came out. As of today our interview has almost 400,000 views.

I became very interested in the topic of diet and lifestyle as it pertains to brain health when, three years ago, my mom, at age 59, began showing signs of cognitive decline. Because her symptoms were somewhat atypical, at the time, it sent us around the country to top hospitals in order to find out “what she had”. It was at that time that I put Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia which currently affects 45 million people worldwide, in my crosshairs.

Over the course of my journey, I stumbled upon an unsettling adage commonly used to describe the treatment of patients with neurodegenerative diseases: diagnose and adios. This off-color remark is commonly used within the walls of medical schools to convey the lack of effective treatment options (short of surgery) for patients who present to neurologists.

One of the most important nutrients/vitamins we have in our body? Vitamin D. In my practice, I always make a point to check Vitamin D levels in my patients, as Vitamin D plays a role in activating over 900 genes that play a role in fighting/preventing cancer, inflammation, and cognitive issues (like dementia and Alzheimer’s).

I am a big advocate of Vitamin D3 supplementation. However, before adjusting your supplementation, keep in mind that the amount of Vitamin D that you may need may be difficult to determine, unless you ask your physician to follow your blood test.

One of the main premises of Grain Brain, and much of my work, is preventing Alzheimer’s disease. You actually have the ability to make changes in your lifestyle choices to prevent Alzheimer’s. In a recent article for The Huffington Post, I address exactly why and how to make this your reality.

Dr. Perlmutter is one of the leading lights in medicine today, illuminating the path for solving chronic illness. He has been a personal mentor and guide for me in dealing with many complex patients and someone I send my closest friends and family to. His leadership in the new medicine has taken so many of us to a place of new understanding about how we can heal and protect our brains.

Mark Hyman, MD

author of the current bestselling book The Blood Sugar Solution, Founder and Medical Director of The UltraWellness Center, Chairman, Institute for Functional Medicine